This Weekend at LACMA: Muse ‘til Midnight, Le Amiche, Buddhist Sutra Painting, Bobby Bradford with George Herms, and More

Lots of stuff happening this weekend, and I’ll get to that in a moment. But first let’s talk about Muse ‘til Midnight, and all the fun you’re going to have there on Saturday night. There’s going to be an open bar. There’s going to be a mustache contest. There’s going to be vaudeville performers wandering the campus. There’s going to be admission to the Thomas Eakins and Catherine Opie exhibitions. Did I mention the mustache contest? There’s going to be DJs by the names of Fangz and Pumpkin. There’s going to be a band called the Unextraordinary Gentlemen, comprised of bass, violin, drum machine, and singer, which needs to be seen. There’s going to be people dressed like they’re from the nineteenth century. And there is another band called Dusty Rhodes and the River Band—and if you watch this video for their song “All One,” and you still don’t think you’re going to have fun, then you and I just have a different idea about what fun is. Don’t let Dusty win the mustache contest. More info here.

In the event you do have different ideas about fun, perhaps some of the other events we have this weekend will suit you. How about a brand new 35mm print of Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le Amiche? This is a newly restored print of an early landmark in the great director’s oeuvre. We’re screening it five times this weekend—twice tonight, three times tomorrow. Then it’s gone.

Saturday afternoon we have a special presentation on Buddhist Sutra painting with artist Oegil Kim Kyeong Ho. This traditional technique flourished in Korea during the Goryeo period (918–1392) but has become something of a lost art since the advent of the printing press. Oegil Kim Kyeong Ho will give a lecture (in Korean, with English translation) at 2 pm, followed by an actual painting demonstration in the Boone Children’s Gallery—right outside the Korean art galleries—at 4pm. Both events are free.

It being summer, we’ve got a free concert every night of the week. Tonight, the Bobby Bradford Mo’tet will hit the BP Grand Entrance for Jazz at LACMA. Bradford has played with greats like Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, and Charlie Haden, so this is not to be missed. For this performance he’ll be joined by artist George Herms, one of the icons of assemblage art in L.A. alongside Ed Kienholz and Betye Saar. How exactly they’ll collaborate, I’m not sure, but it’s sure to be worth a look.

Before you hit Muse ‘til Midnight on Saturday, come early and check out Alfredo de la Fe in Hancock Park as part of Latin Sounds. Violin may not be the first instrument you think of when you think salsa, but after watching de la Fe, it will be.